What is absent is soon forgotten. This phrase has been proverbial since Homer’s time. The Greek poet had it in the Odyssey (ca. 50 b.c.), and the earliest English appearance is in a 1501 translation of Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ. For the opposite sentiment, see absence makes the heart grow fonder. Out of sight, a twentieth-century slangy expression meaning “Wonderful!” or “Beyond belief!” may become a cliché.